News and Announcements

A complete light curve of this eccentric (~2.094d) eclipsing binary system has been determined, in B, V, and R bands. The primary and secondary minima are slightly different in depth, and the color index does not change during either primary or secondary eclipse. Newly-determined times of minimum confirm the previously-suspected rapid change in the orbital phase of the secondary minimum, implying significant apsidal motion.

Hi, all. Today we rolled out some relatively minor upgrades to VSP. There is nothing groundbreaking here. It's mostly minor tweaks and bug fixes. But I'm outlining them here for your information:

Additions
- There is a new "reset all" button that will reset all fields in the user interface to their default values.
- The variable star designator (cross hairs at the center of the chart) now appears on all charts, regardless of the limiting magnitude.

Better magnitudes and epochs have been determined for 189 of the 379 confirmed and suspected variable stars discovered by Ross from 1925 to 1931. Accurate positions have been determined for those objects for which unambiguous identifications had been lacking.

Michael Poxon has taken it upon himself to head a new AAVSO section on his favorite class of variable star: Pre-Main Sequence Stars (YSO/PMS). The AAVSO has had a long history of working with such objects, especially the "Orion variables" that were monitored by many visual observers for years.

July 21 Update: The books are here! The AAVSO has 100 copies of the book that we are selling at the same Cambridge Press discounted rate of $80. So please order from the AAVSO store and help support the organization. We have the books in stock for immediate shipment.

June 3, 2011: As an update to AAVSO Special Notice #241 (http://www.aavso.org/aavso-special-notice-241), the supernova in M51 has been designated SN 2011dh. Discovery, classification, and observation information have been published in IAU CBET 2736 (Daniel W. E. Green, ed.).

AAVSO member, observer and science educator Dr. Pebble Richwine has had a minor planet named in her honor - 268242 Pebble. Pebble did her PhD in science education at the University of Arizona where her dissertation was on using variable stars in elementary school science education. She's given talks at many AAVSO meetings and is currently a science educator in Georgia.

May 27, 2011: Dr. Steve Howell (NASA) and Dr. Travis Rector (University of Alaska, Anchorage) have requested AAVSO observations of several bright giant variable stars of diverse classes. This request is for immediate support of spectroscopic observations to be made at Kitt Peak National Observatory between 2011 May 30 and 2011 June 01 (JD 2455712 - 714). However, observers are encouraged to continue long-term monitoring of these objects.

Minor planet 12789 Savadoraguirre is named for AAVSO member/observer Salvador Aguirre, M.D. (observer code "ASA"), an avid amateur astronomer from Hermosillo, Mexico. He has conducted many observations of variable stars, asteroid occultations, meteors, and comets. He has also help popularize and coordinate amateur astronomical research within Mexico.